Cannabis plant named &#39;V1&#39;

ABSTRACT

The new  Cannabis  plant variety ‘V1’ is provided. ‘V1’ is intended for use as medicinal herb for sale in  Cannabis  dispensaries and for use in the manufacture of medicinal and recreational products. The variety can be distinguished by its outstanding features of increased production of tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV) to a greater amount by percent weight than tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and production of the unique terpene, farnesene.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/832,846 filed on Apr. 11, 2019, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety as though fully set forth herein.

Latin name of the genus and species: Genus—Cannabis. Species—sativa.

Variety denomination: The new Cannabis plant claimed is of the variety denominated ‘V1’.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct annual variety of C. sativa, which has been given the variety denomination of ‘V1’. Its market class is that of a medicinal herb containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), and terpenes including farnesene. ‘V1’ is intended for use as medicinal herb for sale in Cannabis dispensaries and as a home garden plant.

The new C. sativa cultivar is a selection resulting from initial genetic selection of C. sativa strains from Durban, South Africa and Malawi, Morocco to cultivate that had the potential for higher production of THCV. Plants were initially bred within greenhouses at Mendo Love Farms in Laytonville, Calif. before being acclimatized to outdoor conditions. After acclimatization, vegetative C. sativa plants were tested for THCV levels using chromatography. The highest THCV producing male and female plants were selected for breeding. The female parent PA-F 11 (P20) (not patented) of THC content 0.55% and THCV content 1.27% was cross bred to C. sativa male parent M32 (P20) (not patented) of THC content 6.14% and THCV content 1.24% to generate the F1 progeny. Cannabinoid production of the F1 progeny was measured beginning in 2016 and used to determine single plants to propagate. The new cultivar was discovered and selected as a single plant within a population resulting C. sativa plants from this controlled pollination in 2016 selected at Mendo Love Farms, Laytonville, Calif., U.S.A.

PROPAGATION The selection was subsequently evaluated for 3 years at Mendo Love Farms, Laytonville, Calif., U.S.A. Individual plants were initially propagated within a greenhouse without supplemental lighting. Plants are transferred to outdoor growth once established.

Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by cutting propagation since 2018 at Mendo Love Farms, Laytonville, Calif., U.S.A has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.

HISTORICAL NOTE

Human cultivation history of Cannabis dates back 8000 years (Schultes, R. E. 1970. Random thoughts and queries on the botany of Cannabis. Pages 11-38 in: C R B Joyce, and S H Curry eds., THE BOTANY AND CHEMISTRY OF CANNABIS. J. & A. Churchill. London, England (1970)). Hemp cloth recovered in Europe dates back 6000 years (Small, F., Beckstead, H D., and Chan, A. 29(3) ECONOMIC BOTANY 219-232. (1975)). The written record of the pharmacologic properties of Cannabis goes back more than 4000 years (Ti, H. 2737B C E.Nei Jing Su Wen Huang Ti (Yellow Emporer's Classic on Internal Medicine; referred to without citation in Small, et al. (1975) Supra).

The taxonomy and nomenclature of the highly variable genus Cannabis (Emboden, W A., 29(3) ECONOMIC BOTANY 304-310. (1974)) (Small, E. and Cronquist, A. 25(4) TAXON 405-435 (1976)) (Small, E. and Cronquist, A. 26(1) TAXON 110 (1977)); (Hillig, K W and Mahlberg, P G, 91(6) American Journal of Botany 966-975 (2004)), remains in question. This is in spite of the fact that its formal scientific name, ‘Cannabis sativa L.’, assigned by Carolus Linneaus (Linneaus, C, 2 SPECIES PLANTARIUM 1027 (1753), Salvius, Stockholm. Fascimile edition, 1957-1959. Ray Society, London, U.K.) is one of the oldest established names in botanical history and is still excepted to this day. Another species in the genus, ‘Cannabis indica Lam.’ Was formally named somewhat later (de Lamarck, J B, 1(2) ENCYLOPEDIE METHODIQUE DE BOTANIQUE, 694-5, (1785)), but is still very old in botanical history.

Three other species names were proposed in the 1800s to distinguish plants with presumably different characteristics (C. macrosperma Stokes, C. chinensis Delile, C. giganteam Vilmorin), none of which are accepted today, although the epithet “indica” lives on as a subspecies of C. sativa (‘C. sativa ssp. indica Lam.;, Small and Cronquist 1976 Supra).

In the 20^(th) century, two new names were added to the liturgy of proposed ‘Cannabis species: C. ruderalis’ Janischevsky and a hybrid x ‘C. interstita’ Sojak. (Small, E, Jui, P Y, and Lefkovitch, L P, 1(1) SYSTEMATIC BOTANY 67-84 (1976)); Small and Cronquist 1976, Supra). Further, numerous names have been proposed for horticultural variants of ‘Cannabis’ but as of 1976, “very few of these have been validly published as formal taxa under the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.” (Small and Cronquist, 1976 Supra). Moreover, other recent work continues to focus on higher-order evolutionary relationships of the genus. Cannabis has been variously ascribed as belonging to the mulberry family (Moraceae) (Engler, H G A, Ulmaceae, Moraceae and Urticaceae, pages 59-118 (1889) in: A. Engler and K. Prantl eds., DIE NATURLICHEN PFLANZENFAMILIEN 3(1). W. Engelmann, Leipzeig, Germany; Judd, W S, Sanders, R W, and Donogue, M J, 5 HARVARD PAPERS IN BOTANY 5: 1-51 (1994)); nettle family (Urticaceae) (Berg, C C, Systematics and phylogeny of the Urticales, pages 193-220, in: P. R. Crane and S. Blackmore eds., EVOLUTION, SYSTEMATIC, AND FOSSIL HISTORY OF THE HAMAMELIDAE, VOL 2, HIGHER HAMAMELIDAE, Clarendon Press, Oxford, U.K. (1989); Humphries, C J and Blackmore, S. A review of the classification of the Moraceae, pages 267-277 In: Crane and Blackmore 1989 id.); and most recently in its own family with hops (Humulus), the Cannabaceae, or hemp family (Sytsma, K J m et al. 89(9) AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 1531-1546 (2002)). While the work of Small and Cronquist 1976 Supra, seemed to effectively confine the genus to a single species with 2 subspecies (C. sativa. s., C. s. indica), each with two varieties (C. s. s var sativa, C. s. s. var spontanea; C. s. i. var. indica, C. s. i. var. Karfiristanica) largely on the basis of chemotaxonomy and interfertility of all forms, more recent work (System, et al. 2002, Supra), proposes a two-species concept, resurrecting the binomial C. indica Lam. Since Systema, et al. 2002 provides no key for discriminating between the species, the dichotomous key of Small and Cronquist 1976 Supra, which accounts for all forms in nature, whether wild or domesticated, was used to classify the characteristics of the plants described herein.

The active ingredients in Cannabis are cannabinoids and include THC, THCV. Cannabinoids are of interest for their effects on the body through the endogenous cannabinoid system that is an integral part of the central nervous system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The aim for the development of the new C. sativa cultivar, ‘V1’, was to produce a strain featuring increased THCV levels relative to THC levels. These phytocannabinoids in Cannabis are known for their ability to signal through the human endocannabinoid system. THC is found in the form of tetrahydrocannabolic acid (THCA) that is converted to THC during drying or under high heat. Similarly, THCV in live plants is in the form of tetrahydrocannabivarin carboxylic acid (THCVA). THC and THCV both bind to the cannabinoid receptors 1 (CB₁) and 2 (CB₂). Binding of CB₁ by its endogenous ligands, anandamide or 2-arachidonoylglycerol, stimulates food intake (Silvestri, C., Di Marzo, V. 17 Cell Metabolism 475-490 (2013)). THC acts as an agonist of CB₁ and stimulates appetite while THCV is a mild antagonist of CB₁ lessens sensations of hunger (Pertwee, R G. 153 British Journal of Pharmacology 199-215 (2008)). The ability of THCV to act as an antagonist of CB₁ has led to investigation of using THCV to treat metabolic syndrome and obesity (Riedel, G., et al., 156 British Journal of Pharmacology 1154-1166 (2009)). Selection of a strain producing increased amounts of THCV allows optimized isolation of THCV which may be used in treatment of metabolic syndrome.

Plants of the new cultivar differ from typical C. sativa plants in increased production of THCV compared to THC as determined by cannabinoid testing performed by Pure Analytics. C. sativa strain ‘V1’ demonstrates elevated THCVA levels of 4.27% in tested flowers compared to a range of 0.12% for a high THC producing C. sativa strain (Table 1). C. sativa strain ‘V1’ is a new cultivar with increased production of THCV compared to standard strains of C. sativa. C. sativa strain ‘V1’ has elevated levels of the unique terpene, farnesene (0.15%), as determined by terpene testing performed by Pure Analytics. Farnesene is not normally observed in C. sativa strains and this may be a unique identifier of the ‘V1’ strain. This enhanced production of THCV makes ‘V1’ a strain of interest for production of medicinal THCV. Of note for strain ‘V1’ is that there is a higher amount of THCV compared to THC produced in these plants. The positive THCV:THC ratio suggests that THCV is the dominant cannabinoid of the two and may have a dominant effect on the CB₁ receptor.

TABLE 1 Strain THC (%) THCV (%) Farnesene (%) V1 4.03 4.60 0.15 WW3 22.87 0.12 N/A

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF PICTURES

The accompanying photographs show the typical appearance of the new variety ‘V1’. The colors are as nearly true as is reasonably possible in a color representation of this type. Colors in the photographs may differ slightly from the color values cited in the detailed botanical description which accurately describes the colors of the new plant.

FIG. 1 is a photograph of the new variety ‘V1’ at about age 12 weeks in its vegetative stage at Mendo Love Farms, Laytonville, Calif., U.S.A. in a 15-gallon pot. The photograph was taken in July 2018 and compares ‘V1’ with ‘V2’ (U.S. Provisional Patent No. 62/832,859). ‘V1’ is on the left of ‘V2’.

FIG. 2 is a photograph of the new variety ‘V1’ at about age 14 weeks in its vegetative stage at Mendo Love Farms, Laytonville, Calif., U.S.A. after pruning. The photograph was taken in July/August 2018 and compares ‘V1’, ‘V2’, and ‘V3’ (U.S. Provisional Patent No. 62/832,863. ‘V1 ’ is in the center. ‘V2’ is on the left of ‘V1’ and ‘V3’ is on the right of ‘V1’.

FIG. 3 is a photograph of the new variety ‘V1’ at about age 28-30 weeks in its vegetative stage at Mendo Love Farms, Laytonville, Calif., U.S.A. after pruning and in a 45-gallon pot.

FIG. 4 is a photograph of the new variety ‘V1’ at about age 28 weeks in its vegetative stage at Mendo Love Farms, Laytonville, Calif., U.S.A. in a 45-gallon pot. The photograph was taken in October 2018 and demonstrates that the variety has a narrower leaf structure compared to other cultivars.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description sets forth the distinctive characteristics of ‘V1’. Applicant is prepared to make a deposit of seeds or plant tissue in the event that claims are submitted reciting such a deposit of seeds or plant tissue.

Type: Herbaceous tap-rooted annual

Classification: Cultivars of ‘Cannabis sativa’, possessing traits of the subspecies, ‘C. sativa ssp indica (Lamarck)’. When navigating the key of Small and Cronquist, I D., the first couplet separates individuals based on their ability to intoxicate. This cultivated line possesses intoxicating properties, and so the subspecies sativa and its varieties (var. sativa and spontanea) are eliminated from consideration. Within the next couplet distinguishing within the subspecies indica, fruits are required to separate between the varieties (var. indica and var kafiristanica). No fruits were found on any of the individuals observed, and so discrimination between the varieties is impossible with this key.

-   -   a. Family—Cannabaceae.     -   b. Genus—Cannabis.     -   c. Species—Sativa.     -   d. Common Name—Marijuana

Market Class: A medicinal herb intended for use as medical oil, and medicinal herb for sale in Cannabis dispensaries and as a home garden plant.

PLANT

General:

-   -   a. Parentage—Female Parent—F12(P20)     -   b. Male Parent—. M31(P20)

COMPARISON BETWEEN PARENTAL AND COMMERCIAL CULTIVARS

The new C.sativa cultivar ‘V1’ differs from the parental cultivars, female F12(P20) and male M31(P20), by having an increased production of THCV. THCV levels in ‘V1’ are at a range of 4.60% compared to a range of 1.27% for the female parent and a range of 1.24% for the male parent.

NOTE

Applicant is prepared to submit a seed and/or tissue deposit of the cultivar herein described, prior to issuance or publication, as required by the law of the relevant jurisdiction, as needed to support claims reciting such a deposit. 

1. A new and distinct cultivar variety of Cannabis plant named ‘V1’, substantially as illustrated and described herein. 